{"id":26371,"date":"2025-05-21T21:57:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=26371"},"modified":"2025-05-21T22:07:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:22:03","slug":"imaging-technique-removes-the-effect-of-water-in-underwater-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/imaging-technique-removes-the-effect-of-water-in-underwater-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"Imaging technique removes the effect of water in underwater scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><strong>The color-correcting tool, known as \u201cSeaSplat,\u201d reveals more realistic colors of underwater features.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul style=\"background-color:#dbeaf3\" class=\"wp-block-list has-background\">\n<li>SeaSplat is an image-analysis tool that cuts through the ocean\u2019s optical effects to generate images of underwater environments and reveal an ocean scene\u2019s true colors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The tool could be used by marine biologists to monitor the health of certain ocean communities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Researchers paired the color-correcting tool with a computational model that converts images of a scene into a three-dimensional underwater \u201cworld\u201d that can be explored virtually.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26372\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-675x450.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-150x100.jpg 150w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><sup><em>A new color-correcting tool, SeaSplat, reconstructs the true colors of an underwater image taken in Curacao. The original photo is on the left, and the color-corrected version made with SeaSplat is on the right. Image: Courtesy of the researchers<\/em><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-author__name\">Jennifer Chu<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>CAMBRIDGE, Mass. &#8212;\u00a0The ocean is teeming with life. But unless you get up close, much of the marine world can easily remain unseen. That\u2019s because water itself can act as an effective cloak: light that shines through the ocean can bend, scatter, and quickly fade as it travels through the dense medium of water and reflects off the persistent haze of ocean particles. This makes it extremely challenging to capture the true color of objects in the ocean without imaging them at close range.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, a team from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has developed an image-analysis tool that cuts through the ocean\u2019s optical effects and generates images of underwater environments that look as if the water had been drained away, revealing an ocean scene\u2019s true colors. The team paired the color-correcting tool with a computational model that converts images of a scene into a three-dimensional underwater \u201cworld\u201d that can then be explored virtually.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers have dubbed the new tool \u201cSeaSplat\u201d in reference to both its underwater application and a method known as 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS), which takes images of a scene and stitches them together to generate a complete, three-dimensional representation that can be viewed in detail from any perspective.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith SeaSplat, it can model explicitly what the water is doing, and as a result, it can in some ways remove the water and produce better 3D models of an underwater scene,\u201d says MIT graduate student Daniel Yang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers applied SeaSplat to images of the sea floor taken by divers and underwater vehicles in various locations, including the U.S. Virgin Islands. The method generated 3D \u201cworlds\u201d from the images that were truer and more vivid and varied in color compared to previous methods.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team says SeaSplat could help marine biologists monitor the health of certain ocean communities. For instance, as an underwater robot explores and takes pictures of a coral reef, SeaSplat would simultaneously process the images and render a true-color, 3D representation that scientists could then virtually \u201cfly\u201d through, at their own pace and path, to inspect the underwater scene, for instance, for signs of coral bleaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBleaching looks white from close up but could appear blue and hazy from far away, and you might not be able to detect it,\u201d says Yogesh Girdhar, an associate scientist at WHOI. \u201cCoral bleaching and different coral species could be easier to detect with SeaSplat imagery to get the true colors in the ocean.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Girdhar and Yang will present a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com\/ls\/click?upn=u001.aGL2w8mpmadAd46sBDLfbNvVHjDa-2BGvCfsXyNRHCngSUODCm192Y79M2Ja-2F0XjNuwcJl_Gmh-2FjktplCfWo1o-2BFbkY3J9eYBJUJc-2BSUmMkHo42Dqe4Z0qTEKCmSFnQfWCe8-2B8jgXgQQcW-2Fb1rLKfKZRu-2BLLGScwMYc-2FOCX9RDmpXEBR4BY9i7y-2BNgpMuREG7n76alZIUxAs8WBDLB9QTol7gt6-2BK4wj-2Fj82ww-2FWrug9YL3NO4Xplx0lUu4I8NaY5bLXlvdrFrGSWjuFRk83bfITW83RzCWoCJNQvqwXtzc4lFt1Gj9DnS-2BnayTugDn-2FfJWA4H5GJxT-2FzrOHOyEN6KO145Tb1ToyBj5Pog6hofr7ntqYnuZCf12l7hIitz8Cv6En6GWWpHIfcRmMvRz0AwnFAqnhWc-2BWx-2BM-2BdRMW3AfAFdnXuqwy9OmiycSFXraUWbouQD3OtOMjf8B1HoqWaaAQY8x7Q-3D-3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">paper<\/a>&nbsp;detailing SeaSplat at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). Their study co-author is John Leonard, professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aquatic optics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the ocean, the color and clarity of objects are distorted by the effects of light traveling through water. In recent years, researchers have developed color-correcting tools that aim to reproduce the true colors in the ocean. These efforts involved adapting tools that were developed originally for environments out of water, for instance, to reveal the true color of features in foggy conditions. One recent work accurately reproduces true colors in the ocean with an algorithm named \u201cSea-Thru,\u201d though this method requires a huge amount of computational power,\u00a0which makes its use in producing 3D scene models challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In parallel, others have made advances in 3D Gaussian splatting, with tools that seamlessly stitch images of a scene together and intelligently fill in any gaps to create a whole, 3D version of the scene. These 3D worlds enable \u201cnovel view synthesis,\u201d meaning that someone can view the generated 3D scene not just from the perspective of the original images but from any angle and distance.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"572\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-02-press.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26373\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-02-press.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-02-press-675x429.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-02-press-768x488.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-02-press-150x95.jpg 150w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><sup>SeaSplat produces true color images of an underwater scene, as captured by MIT team\u2019s underwater robot. The original photo is on the left, and the color-corrected version made with SeaSplat is on the right.<br \/>Image: Courtesy of the researchers<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But 3DGS has only successfully been applied to environments out of water. Efforts to adapt 3D reconstruction to underwater imagery have been hampered, mainly by two optical underwater effects: backscatter and attenuation. Backscatter occurs when light reflects off of tiny particles in the ocean, creating a veil-like haze. Attenuation is the phenomenon by which light of certain wavelengths attenuates, or fades with distance. In the ocean, for instance, red objects appear to fade more than blue objects when viewed from farther away.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Out of water, the color of objects appears more or less the same regardless of the angle or distance from which they are viewed. In water, however, color can quickly change and fade depending on one\u2019s perspective. When 3DGS methods attempt to stitch underwater images into a cohesive 3D whole, they are unable to resolve objects due to aquatic backscatter and attenuation effects that distort the color of objects at different angles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne dream of underwater robotic vision that we have to imagine is if you could remove all the water in the ocean. What would you see?\u201d Leonard says.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A model swim<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In their new work, Yang and his colleagues developed a color-correcting algorithm that accounts for the optical effects of backscatter and attenuation. The algorithm determines the degree to which every pixel in an image must have been distorted by backscatter and attenuation effects and then essentially takes away those aquatic effects and computes what the pixel\u2019s true color must be.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yang then worked the color-correcting algorithm into a 3D Gaussian splatting model to create SeaSplat, which can quickly analyze underwater images of a scene and generate a true-color, 3D virtual version of the same scene that can be explored in detail from any angle and distance.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team applied SeaSplat to multiple underwater scenes, including images taken in the Red Sea, in the Caribbean off the coast of Cura\u00e7ao, and in the Pacific Ocean, near Panama. These images, which the team took from a pre-existing dataset, represent a range of ocean locations and water conditions. They also tested SeaSplat on images taken by a remote-controlled underwater robot in the U.S. Virgin Islands.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the images of each ocean scene, SeaSplat generated a true-color 3D world that the researchers were able to virtually explore, for instance, zooming in and out of a scene and viewing certain features from different perspectives. Even when viewing from different angles and distances, they found that objects in every scene retained their true color, rather than fading as they would if viewed through the actual ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOnce it generates a 3D model, a scientist can just \u2018swim\u2019 through the model as though they are scuba diving and look at things in high detail, with real color,\u201d Yang says.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For now, the method requires hefty computing resources in the form of a desktop computer that would be too bulky to carry aboard an underwater robot. Still, SeaSplat could work for tethered operations, where a vehicle, tied to a ship, can explore and take images that can be sent up to a ship\u2019s computer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is the first approach that can very quickly build high-quality 3D models with accurate colors underwater, and it can create them and render them fast,\u201d Girdhar says. \u201cThat will help to quantify biodiversity and assess the health of coral reefs and other marine communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This work was supported, in part, by\u00a0the Investment in Science Fund at WHOI and by the U.S. National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ocean is teeming with life. But unless you get up close, much of the marine world can easily remain unseen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-earth-science"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0.jpg",900,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-200x200.jpg",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-675x450.jpg",675,450,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-768x512.jpg",750,500,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0.jpg",750,500,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0.jpg",900,600,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0.jpg",900,600,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0.jpg",900,600,false],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-870x570.jpg",870,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-600x600.jpg",600,600,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-600x600.jpg",600,600,true],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-760x490.jpg",760,490,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-550x360.jpg",550,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-95x65.jpg",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-640x600.jpg",640,600,true],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/MIT-SeaSplat-01-press_0-150x100.jpg",150,100,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Jennifer Chu"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/category\/news\/research\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Research<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/category\/earth-science\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Earth Science<\/a>","tag_info":"Earth Science","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26376,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26371\/revisions\/26376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}